That's a way, you will stub your toe a ton and guarantee to learn (but who are you learning from, school of hard knocks?) 

Haven't closed a deal yet but I'm working the streets, knocking on doors, and cold calling absentee owners.

Not to knock Wapello, but it is a small and dying Iowa farming community whose population is in decline (per US census) and will get worse as the older folks die off and small family farms are consolidated. 

We settle (knock on wood) on our first property this Friday!

I then figure out who owns it, where they live, and how to get in touch with them ( door knock, cold call, mail ). 

In the next couple weeks I'm thinking of going door knocking on behalf of one of my clients to see if anything might pop up for them.Here's some fancy graphs from the MLS for Chicago:Median Sales Price: http://mred.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/21...Market time: http://mred.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/21...Homes for sale: http://mred.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/21...Disclaimer: These are just for detached singles, attached singles, condo, and townhouses - I can't get the multifamilies included in this.

Also, knock down potential  - old tired rentals in the rapidly changing neighborhoods around down town areas. 

Don't be afraid to knock on the doors and present yourself.

.), scrubbing the public records for notice of defaults (a list you have to manually do as our county doesn't have the records online), bandit signs (but 3 wholesale players have entered our market and take down every sign we put up), door knocking (Which takes up too much time).

Facebook, Craigslist, door knocking, direct mail, cold calling, are a few ways to market.Also, to answer your question "Generally how many times do you market postcards to the same list?"